Too Depressed...To Pee Though?
Does anyone else feel like Euphoria is diverging into two storylines? One storyline is about Rue, Jules, and Fez and the other one…is essentially about everyone else LOL. The only person tying the two storylines together is Nate, who has seemingly lost every ounce of sense that he may have had in the inceptive episodes. Anytime that anyone’s storyline gains a little bit of momentum, or seems to be going in a positive direction, our favorite little demon friend Nate comes and ruins everything.
The penultimate episode of the season starts off by giving us some background information on Cassie and the complicated family history that led to Gus, Cassie’s dad, leaving. Suze, Cassie’s mom, is a total drunk, who appears to be envious of her husband’s charisma and killer good looks – which are questionable at best. Regardless of the issues between him and his wife, Gus loved Cassie and even put her in figure skating lessons until he was no longer able to afford them. Her parents eventually split up, either because they couldn’t get along or because her mom was bussin’ down thotiana with another man (the show left this relatively ambiguous). After the split, Gus fell asleep drunk behind the wheel, was hospitalized, and became addicted to the fentanyl that was prescribed to him for the pain – potentially heroin as well. I’m guessing, this backstory was supposed to set the stage/explain all of Cassie’s future relationships and behaviors with men? Lol. Or maybe it was supposed to make me...sympathize with the fact that she is basically Mia Khalifa? Welp, it did the exact opposite.
Can we please give my girl a storyline? Maybe a hashtag? #StorylineforLexi
Cassie’s fake halo is starting to make me want to gauge my eyes out. Back to back scene of everyone in Cassie’s life telling her that she is perfect honestly just made me feel sorry for Lexi, her sister. I’m actually interested in knowing why the producers have yet to give Lexi a dynamic storyline. Maybe it’s because she’s the only character on the show whose past hasn’t turned them into a sexy sinner. Rue’s bipolar disorder turned her into a drug addict, Cassie’s daddy issues turned her into an insecure cheater, Jules’ struggle with her transition makes her only want one night stands, Maddy’s pageant background turned her into a conceited bitch, and Nate’s daddy issues turned him into Satan. Lexi seems like the only “normal” high-schooler and they literally have not told us anything about her, besides the fact that she pees in a cup for Rue, dresses up like a boy on Halloween, and gets no attention in her family because of Cassie.
I tweeted this and its so reassuring to know how many people relate to
Although the episode gave us some backstory on Cassie, it is largely centered around depicting both sides of Rue’s bipolar disorder; the manic state and the depressed state. The sequences of Rue in her manic state were flat out masterful. Rue was like a hard core cop from the 80’s trying to crack the case of why Jules had been so unresponsive lately, especially because Jules missed school for the past week. Apparently, people that suffer from bipolar depression describe their manic episodes as finally experiencing moments of clarity or having moments where the world seems intelligible. So it’s interesting that in her manic state, she is playing Detective Rue who is trying to find clarity about what’s going on with Jules and Nate, and really everybody else at the school. As Allie Pape on vulture said, “Linking that aspect of mania to a vintage cop on the edge narrative is a rare occasion where Euphoria’s love for genre pastiche adds up to something more.” The sequences of Rue descending into her manic depression catapulted me into a state of introspection that I honestly...was not ready for. As an avid Love Island viewer, who literally took a break from my 17-hour binge session to watch Euphoria, just to see Rue binge-watching Love Island, I felt attacked. When you’re depressed, time does really morph together and next thing you know you haven’t moved, eaten, spoken, or peed in almost 24 hours, but you still refuse to move because you wouldn’t rather be doing anything else. I’m not entirely sure that I needed to watch Rue almost give herself a kidney infection to understand the concept of being too depressed to pee though, however, I’m all here for the dramatic effect.
Because Euphoria loves to have diverse characters, but doesn’t actually like to expand on any of the characteristics that make people different, I was pleasantly surprised that the episode gave us about a minute and thirty seven seconds of Jules opening up about being trans. Jules, while straddled by a Zendaya look alike, talks about how her hook-ups with men help her feel like she is conquering femininity, which is honestly more than we have heard in all previous 6 episodes combined about her sexuality. Jules later fucks the Zendaya look alike at the club, but envisions Nate the whole time, which PROVES DETECTIVE RUES THEORY THAT JULES INEVITABLY FELL FOR NATE (this is that thing I was talking about earlier when I said he ruins everything). And honestly, just when you thought Nate had messed with every character, he comes for the pride and joy of the show, Fez and Ashtray. All I’m saying is, Fez and Ashtray better get to flushin and Nate better get to runnin’, because the big tatted neck gangster man is going to have to come for someone when he doesn’t get his money, AND I'M PRAYING IT IS NATE. Side Note: someone brought up to me that Fez was supposed to embody Mac Miller, with both his looks and his voice, and honestly, if that’s the case, that’s fucking brilliant. FUCKING. BRILLIANT.
